To the Last Drop
by Banzai
Summary: The power of a force of nature, an unknown past, a noble purpose...Hydro is here! *Chp.6 is up!*
1. Reborn

1: 37 P.m.Bayville, Massachusetts

Kraka-Thooom!

A bolt of lightning cracks the sky as if some great war was raging above the heavens far out of sight. 

The rain.

It's gentle patter accompanies the fierce booms of thunder. Quiet. Calm. A soothing lullaby of nature, the clouds tears have become a blanket for the streets, the buildings, everything. In these chaotic times a usually noisy city is hushed beneath the showers, All seems peaceful for the moment until...

Deep, deep in the middle of this silent city in an ally no different than any of the hundreds of others behind a long forgotten building that was once a unsuccessful bowling alley a small puddle insignificant puddle is forming. A small unnoticeable puddle...insignificant. A small collection of water in a crack in the ground nothing more.

But life is gathering here. No one can be seen but a presence can be felt in the small insignificant puddle. With every drip and every drop a being is becoming whole again. First a slight bubble appears, then another as if something were breathing under the surface of this once insignificant puddle. More bubbles reach the surface as if the water were now boiling. The rain and the lightning watch on as the only witnesses to this strange turn of events. The water begins to rises and form shape at first only a formless blob transforms into what seems to be a human hand. Fingers, knuckles, palm and all!

A living creature is slowly but steadily emerging from this very significant puddle!

I t almost seems as if the puddle were a portal to another world and the creature is traveling though it but no as this creature grows the puddle recedes, the creature and the puddle are one and the same. The rain and lightning watch on. The rain begins to pour harder faster directly on the being trying to coax it not t give up. Just a little further. A head sprouts from the newly developed shoulders of the creature and begins to take shape. Ears to hear the thunderous cheers of the lightning, eyes to see the beautiful rain filled sky and a mouth and nose to finally breath the much needed air again. It had been so long, an eternity. The creature struggled to pull the rest of its newly developed body together. Just. A. Little. Further. First hips, then legs....feet! At last it was whole again!!!!

And he stood.

The thunder cheered a huge thunder roar of praise at finally seeing the creature succeed in its birth or perhaps rebirth. And the rain cried huge sobs of joy, which fell upon the being, drenching its body from head to toe. He looked to the sky as the downpour beat against his giving of the appearance that he was crying. Now was not the time for tears for he was free from his proverbial womb. At last! His mind quickly sharpened as memories came flooding back to him. 

The mission.

To his side a few feet away a trashcan sit shining dimly in the moonlight, its only contents an old tattered trenchcoat. He would need a disguise any thing would do if the were to see his uniform they would recognize him. He walked over slowly and claimed the coat as its new owner and slipped it on and over him. Without a single breaking stride he walked out of the alley and onto the glistening streets. He knew exactly were to go although to source of his information escaped his rapidly returning memory he would find more answers once he reached his destination.

Reborn and more determine than ever to reach his goal to control the immense power he hides deep inside of him. Greater than anyone could have foreseen greater than even he knows. Fate has chosen to use these gifts for what purpose...only he can say. There will be obstacle son the way, challenge after challenge. He will endure. Pray for those who wish to stop him. For he will complete his mission, until his body and mind are broken and the strength of his soul was depleted down to the very single last drop.

Hydro is here....


	2. Water Hazard

****

A/N: Hey peoples, Banzai here! I'm new here to FF and I'm ready to show all you folks what I'm capable of. I accidentally stumbled on this site a few weeks ago and was inspired by all the baddass stories I've read ('specially the X-men Evo's) There are some really talented people here or at least people that know how to fake it…. I just hope I can reach the level of their greatness and receive some good feedback for my work. ALLRIGHT ENOUGH BUTT-KISSSING!!!

God knows your egos are probably big enough as it is… On with the show!!!

My story begins shortly after the events of "Mainstream" except in my timeline school is out and summer is just starting. Why? Cuz there's gonna be soooo much going on I gotta give all the characters as much free time as possible. Besides school sucks.

****

Disclaimer: I forgot to tell ya last time, I don't any of the characters except for Hydro. Guess that's ok though since he was the only character in the first chapter anyways. It was basically an introduction for Hydro and my writing style, don't worry things are gonna get way more interesting real soon. Somebody let me know if you can come up with a better title.

"Water Hazard"

5:16 p.m.The Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters

Deep within the bowels of an almost cavernous mansion in an area of the city where he and others can live without the watchful eyes of hate, a man with a great mind and even greater purpose sits. Pondering. Wondering. Something has been placed before him that is a complete mystery. His vast knowledge knows perhaps no bounds… so nothing should be able to escape his mind's eye. Correct? If anyone could claim to know all surely it would be him, with his astonishing God-given abilities, which seemed to have no limits whatsoever. Correct? No. Only a fool, no matter how educated, no matter how blessed with amazing abilities of the mind would believe he knows all. This man is no fool. He had been called this and worse for his beliefs but still. 

The man known as Professor Charles Xavier had a problem before him and as always the professor knew the only way to solve it was the same with all problems. Face it dead on.

"Logan could you come to the Cerebro chamber for a moment?" the Professor asked over a nearby intercom. A few moments later the doors flew open to huge futuristic room full of wires, buttons, lights and very advanced, very expensive looking equipment. In the center of this room in front of a huge computer screen, which displayed a map of the once quiet town of Bayville, sat the Professor. It wasn't long ago when this room was barren and completely destroyed but the repairs were now complete and the room was back to it's original grandeur. A small, thick, burly looking man stepped in, although not a very old looking man the look in his eyes portrayed the look of a man who had lived more than his share of lifetimes and had probably forgotten more than most people would ever know.

"What's the problem Charles?" the burly man asked.

"I'm not quite sure." The professor answered. "Cerebro has picked up something but it's unlike any other mutant signature I've ever seen". He pointed to a red flashing dot on the screen. Normally tons of information about the pinpointed subject would also be on the screen, such as name, birthplace, family members, age, which school they were attending and so forth. For some reason that part of the screen was now blank "I'm also unable to find any kind if information on the subject, there seems to be no data of any kind on this mutant… strange."

"You want me to check it out?" asked Logan.

"Yes, please." The Professor answered.

Just as Logan turned and prepared to leave on yet another scouting mission the Professor stopped him. "Logan, wait, you may not have to leave." "Didn't the children leave to go to the mall a short while ago?" "I think so." Logan said. "Why?" 

" I believe that they are headed straight for our subject."

Luck was on their side and the Professor wasted no time in seizing to opportunity and immediately called his students. 

Meanwhile in a red convertible across town a cell-phone belonging to a young man named Scott Summers was ringing, he answered.

"Hello".

"Scott it's the Professor." Xavier said.

"What's up Professor?"

"Scott I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to reschedule your plans, something rather important has come up."

"What is it?"

The passengers of the car were now silent; sitting across from Summers was a young redhead named Jean Gray. In the back seat were three other young girls named Kitty, Amara, and Rouge.

The girls had planned to start their summer vacation off with some shopping at the mall and Scott agreed to take them. They listened carefully and examined Scott in an attempt to tell what was going on by the expression on his face. "There is a new mutant in the general area near you and I need you to contact this person as soon as possible." "It's somewhere in the park by your current location."

"You got it Professor." 

"Oh and Scott be careful, I don't yet have any information on this mutant and it may be hostile."

"We'll be careful."

"Alright then."

"See you Professor." Scott hung up. "What's wrong Scott?" asked the brown-haired girl.

"That was the Professor." Scott said "There's a new mutant he wants us to meet with over in the park."

"You mean we aren't going to the mall?" asked the raven-haired girl.

"Afraid not." Scott said, "Sorry ladies, work before play."

The girls grumbled, moaned, and pouted over their predicament.

Little did they know that was the least of their worries for at that very moment at four-way intersection they happened to run into three individuals who weren't exactly on their list of close friends. Rounding the corner was a huge black jeep and in it was the trio of troublesome teens known as the Brotherhood. "Oh no." Scott moaned at the sight of the all too familiar passengers of the vehicle. Luckily enough the jeep was headed in the opposite direction. Upon everyone else seeing the jeep the car became silent, perhaps hoping with their silence some how they could become invisible. The jeep passed them and a mutual feeling of relief passed through everyone in the car. "Ah don't think they saw us." Said a girl with dark red hair and two pale white bangs hanging in front of her face. Suddenly the jeep swerved and reversed cutting across the white divider in the road to the opposite lane cutting of a car that barley stopped in time. The jeep was now following them and quickly gaining speed. "Spoke too soon" said an annoyed Scott seeing the approaching car from his rearview mirror. For a split second Scott considered simply flooring the accelerator, his car was definitely faster than the jeep and the jeep passengers easily outweighed the convertibles. His plan was immediately shot however when he was forced to stop because of an upcoming crosswalk where a crossing-guard was helping a stream of toddlers across the street.

The convertible was forced to come to a halt. Slowly the jeep pulled up besides them blasting loud, heavy metal. The driver, a brown-haired boy wearing a dark vest turned down the music to speak. 

"What's up Summers?" "Hey Kitty." He said winking at the brown-haired girl who turned her head around as so not to look at him. She let out a slight "humph."

"Hey ladies!" a gangly, slightly green looking young man said leaning over from the passenger side with a mischievous grin on his face. "Oh please." Muttered Rouge. 

"What are you geeks up to?" asked a tremendously sized teen who was sitting in the backseat.

"Like, none of your business Blobolla." Snapped Kitty.

"Hey is that any way to talk to a friend." The green teen asked.

"Yeah you hurt could somebody's feelings." The large teen added.

"We're sensitive ya know." Said the green teen.

The two young men looked at each with huge mournful eyes as if they were about to burst into tears. Before busting with loud obnoxious gales of laughter. Scott slowly shook his head before saying "Don't you guys have other people to annoy?" He was wishing he could just peel off but couldn't because of the human road block made up of small children directly in front of him

"Nope just you nerds!" said Lance before joining his friends in the laughter.

This was actually true as the three were actually bored stiff at home before deciding to go for a ride in Lance's jeep. An idea now popped into Lance's head. A race, other than just flat out picking a fight a race was the next best way to beat boredom.

"Wanna drag?" Lance said.

"Drag?" Amara asked confusedly.

"He wants to race, Amara." Jean said.

"You're so immature." Rouge said.

"We know you are, but what are we?" Todd chimed.

"Look we don't have time for this!" Scott said sounding even more annoyed.

"Oh I get it, Summers is scared!" Lance teased.

Both Todd and Fred started flapping their arms and made chicken noises. 

"Buck… Buck… Bukaw!"

"We'll show you who's scared!" Rouge snapped.

"Yeah do it Scott!" Kitty added.

"Listen Scott." Jean said. "Let's just beat them and get it over with, we have more important things to do."

"Fine." Scott said. "On one condition, if we win you three have to get back under whatever rock you crawled out from and stay as far away as possible, do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Lace said. "To the next stop sign."

At that very moment the last toddler stepped of the street, the crossing guard dropped her sign and the race began.

Vrooooom! Screeeeeech!

They were off! From the very start the X-men had the clear lead but the Brotherhood was still close and gaining. The street that the race took place on however wasn't very long so the race would be short one. An elderly man strolling down the sidewalk shook his fist at them angrily "Slow down ya stupid punk kids!" he bellowed before reaching for his inhaler. He obviously got a little too excited. Scott looked back at the man through his rearview mirror and began to wonder if this was a mistake. He couldn't stop now though, the race was almost over and they were winning!

Meanwhile it became painfully obvious to Lance he wouldn't come out the winner as the race began to come to a close. If there was anything that Lance hated it was losing. Especially to Summers. Especially we he was the one who laid out the challenge in the first place. Lance eventually decided that if you can't beat 'em… cheat! 

With a quick jerk of the steering wheel the massive jeep sideswiped the much lighter sports car sending it off the road. The girls screamed as the car skidded into the nearby grass while Scott tried regain control over the car. "Ha Ha!" Lanced shouted back. "See ya later losers!"

Todd looked back giving them a raspberry while Fred laughed holding a hand up to his head making a "L" shape with his fingers. 

"LAAANCE!!!!" Kitty screeched from the car. "YOU BIG JERK!!!"

Lance was far too busy enjoying his victory to pay attention to Kitty's screaming or the road.

Only a few yards ahead of them was a young man leaving out of the park and crossing the street.

A young man who was wearing a trench coat.

A young man who was so very focused on the matters of his mind that he paid no attention to the oncoming traffic.

"Look out! Todd screamed in Lance's ear.

"Wha..!!" was Lance's only response as he turned his attention back in front of him to see a young man about to be run down. He slammed his foot down on the brakes, but to no avail. The jeep's momentum had built up too much for them to stop. All Lance, his friends, the X-men and dozen of other onlookers could do at that moment was watch in sheer terror as the jeep collided with the young man with a sickening "Spluuushhh".

Everything at that moment froze.

"Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman…" Todd repeated breaking the deafening silence.

Lance could hear the whispers all around him, "Ran him down"….."Oh my God"…. "Is he?"… "Dead"…."That sound".

"What have I done?" was ringing into the back of his skull. How could this have happened? He was just having a little fun, he didn't want this to happen….not this!!!

Lance slowly stepped out of the car to survey the damage he caused; hoping by some miracle the boy was all right. It was time to face the music an own up to what he did.

To his great astonishment the body of the boy he had believed he just slaughtered was nowhere to be found only a small puddle of water lay in its place.

He reluctantly looked under the car, nothing. Behind the car? Nothing. As confused as he was in a way he was relieved, it was like waking up from a bad dream.

Could he have missed him or were his eyes playing tricks on him? No he felt an impact for sure. So where was he?

"Uh… Lance." Todd spoke

"Yeah." Lance answered.

Todd was pointing towards the windshield, his face much greener than usual. 

Lance stared at the windshield for a moment and was about to ask Todd what he was supposed to be looking at; there was no blood or anything in the windshield. Just a little….water?

It had rained the night before but not that day, so why was there….uh-oh.

Upon closer examination the mass of water formed on his car was not normal water.

Not normal at all.

Normal water doesn't have a face!!!!!

****

Next Time: Hydro is on the attack! Can the X-men and the Brotherhood's combined power be enough to stop him? And if they do stop him, what do they do with him? What the heck is he anyway? And what does he want from Professor X?


	3. First Encounter

Hey peoples, Banzai here…

Thanks for the reviews I got, tell your friends to check it out! I'm just dying for more reviews!

Ya know I've been thinking (waits for applause) and I'm starting to realize that there are an awful lot of fics out there, in which a "new and mysterious" mutant shows up and turns everyone's life upside down. I'd just like to take this time to say I don't intend to make Hydro the center of the freaking universe just cuz I created him or cuz he's a new character. It's more of a need to introduce the character so people can get a good feel for him until they feel more comfortable with his presence. 

I intend to do as much as possible with all the characters. I want everyone to have their own point of view and there own solo adventures. I want to devote time to all the different types of people in the show, not just favorites like Rogue, Kurt and Pietro. Lord knows there are plenty of stories about them as it is. I also want to make in-depth stories about less popular characters like Fred and Evan. Perhaps even get people more interested in them in the process. Why cuz nobody's really done anything like that before. Just thought I'd let you know what to expect before people automatically write this off as your basic "new character fanfic" because I intend to make this fic both as entertaining and original as possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own nuthin' but Hydro ya happy? Huh? Happy now?!

"First Encounter"

EEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!

A loud shrill scream could be heard far and wide. Was the owner of this high-pitched scream a frightened young woman or perhaps a small-frightened child? No, the owner of the bloodcurdling scream that echoed around the small area in front of the local city park belonged to none other than Todd Tolensky a.k.a. the Toad. What was before Todd's large fools-gold colored eyes would perhaps cause anyone no matter how seemingly invulnerable to simple emotions such as fear to have the same reactions. As a matter of fact several people were screaming as they fled the scene in front of the once tranquil park. Todd had seen many strange, perverse and outright weird things in his young life, many of which were of his own doing, but nothing like this. 

For at this moment Todd was about to be pummeled by a huge stream of water bursting out of a young man's arm. At his side lay the only two people in the world whom he knew closely enough to call friends, Fred Dukes a.k.a. the Blob and Lance Alvers a.k.a. Avalanche. The threatening creature that was now attacking him had knocked out both of them. The creature looked human although clearly couldn't have been. No human possessed such amazing abilities. No human could succeed in disabling and defeating him, his friends, and several members of the rival mutant team the x-men so easily. And yet it was so, in addition to his fellow troublemakers not to far from him sprawled on the concrete lay another young man named Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops. A few feet from him, barely even conscious lay Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl and only a couple of yards or so behind her was Kitty Pryde a.k.a. Shadowcat and Amara Aquilla a.k.a. Magma laying on top of each other in a heap. 

"How could this have happened?" he thought. Only a few moments ago the threatening figure that stood before him was merely a splash of water against a windshield. Until it began to recede and slowly roll of the hood of Lance's jeep and collect itself with a puddle in the street in front of the car. The puddle grew and grew and took the shape of a human. Two arms, two legs, a torso, a head, feet, and hands. Except for the fact that the creature's body was entirely made up of water and the creature seemed not to have facial features such as a mouth, nose, ears or anything like that. If it weren't for the fact that this creature had eyes and what looked like hair its entire "face" would be a blank canvas. You could see straight through it, almost like a human shaped aquarium. Its eyes had no pupil's only icy blue colored irises. The only things not made up of water on it were what seemed to be parts of armor over its shins, knees, elbows, forearms waist and chest.

As soon as the creature collected himself he attacked, firing a powerful stream of water from its arm which hit Lance in the chest. Lance was only a few feet from the creature so the blast was powerful enough to tear through his clothes but also strong enough to send the rock tumbler flying several feet in the air. An infuriated Blob was next to go on the attack. He let out a loud intimidating roar and charged violently at the attacking monster. Just then a nearby fire hydrant began to shake and tremble before flying of it's bolted down piece of sidewalk and straight towards Blob. Apparently the water pressure underneath the hydrant had become too great and caused the hydrant to go sailing through the air. Fred didn't even see it coming and with a sharp "Clang" the huge mutant was on the ground after having his head come in direct contact with the hydrant. 

Now with the immovable mutant…well… not moving, it was the x-men's turn. The five youngsters had seen the entire scene from a few yards back and had now made their way up to the menacing monstrosity. Despite the fact that this anomaly was most likely the mutant that the professor had assigned for them to meet, they would have to subdue him. If they didn't one of the innocent people fleeing the park could be hurt. "Alright listen up, don't hurt him!" Scott ordered. "He's probably just confused, so don't go too hard on him, just protect those people!"

"But who's gonna protect us?" Kitty asked after now seeing the monster before her. He looked much more dangerous up-close. Before the x-men even had a chance to reason with this unknown attacker he was raising his arms to attack them. 

Cyclops was the first to attack though, as a crimson beam shot from his now uncovered eyes. The powerful creature was able to avoid the attack however by swiftly rolling to the side. The water monster now countered with a powerful stream that knocked the x-men leader several feet away. As he fell he was unable to keep one eye completely closed and a burst of ruby energy shot forth hitting its unlucky target, Marvel Girl, in the back of her head. She had tried to step in front of Scott to protect him from any further attack but her plan had backfired.

The impetuous x-rookie Magma after seeing two of her comrades now slumped against the curb suddenly had her hands burst into flames; she wasn't in any pain however. She was going on the attack. Like the villain that had attacked her friends she had control over a powerful element, fire. A blaze of crimson justice erupted from her fingertips, striking him in the chest. 

Steam began to rise and cover the creature as the flames made contact with it. 

"Huh!" Magma boasted triumphantly. "That wasn't so hard."

The smile across Magma's lips quickly turned into a gaping look of shock, for as the smoke cleared the monster was still sanding. The creature stared at a dumbfounded Magma with eyes as so cold, so very cold they sent a frightened shiver down her spine.

Once again the creature raised his arm to aim them before it exploded into a stream of water the hit Magma with enough force to hurl her small frame through the air. Her body didn't meet with the concrete though instead it collided with Shadowcat, knocking them both out cold. Kitty had been caught so off guard that she didn't react in enough time to activate her powers.

With all the threats to him now out of commission the liquid fiend turned his attention on Toad. Toad began to run as soon as the monster directed it's attention towards him, but slipped on a puddle created by the destroyed hydrant. The monster moved closer and now Toad was paralyzed with fear, the monster on the other hand had the exact opposite reaction. Deciding that Toad was not a threat but still needed to be eliminated the monster powered down. The liquid slowly seeped of his body. Now his true form could be seen.

In front of Toad stood a young man probably not much older than him with brown skin and seven neat cornrows in his head. The boy wore a strange looking outfit that could now be seen after the creature lost its trenchcoat when he was hit with Lance's car. The outfit even reminded Toad of the strange and colorful uniforms he and his fellow mutants would wear. It consisted of a black body suit, which covered the boy from the neck on down including his hands and feet. It also had a pair of elbow pads, kneepads, wrist guards, shin guards, a belt and chest protector. They were all an aqua-like shade of blue with silver trim. These were the pieces that were visible as armor when the creature was water. Although the monsters wardrobe was the least of Toad's concerns. The creature aimed and prepared to fire.

EEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!

The attack missed Toad by inches, but how?

"Forgot about me?" asked Rouge.

Both Toad and the creature had completely forgotten about Rouge. She had managed to stay hidden during the battle waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The minute the creature was distracted Rouge snuck up behind him, removed her gloves and grabbed his face with both hands. Since the monster was now flesh and bone he was susceptible to Rouges powers. The creature let out a painful yell as soon as Rouge touched him. 

"AAAAAAAUUUGH!!!" he hollered in an attempt to break free of Rouge's grip.

But it was no use; Rouge didn't let up, she only got tougher on him. Whether he could have been a possible ally or not he hurt her friends and put peoples lives in danger. She wasn't about to let up on him now.

"Ahm takin' you out!" Rouge declared as she hopped onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist. The mysterious creature struggled and clawed at Rouge but the more he fought the more energy escaped from his body. Eventually the creature fell to his knees, Rouge still straddling his back. Rouge now forced all her weight on him until he was on all fours. 

"That's right, go to sleep." Rouge lulled.

Finally he collapsed.

While the battle came to a close Toad was helping his friends to escape the scene before the police came. He already dragged Lance into the backseat and was helping Fred who was still a little groggy into the passenger's side. "Come on, move your butt!" Todd ordered.

All Fred could say back was "ugh". Todd then leaped into the driver's seat and peeled out.

"You're welcome." Rouge said sarcastically. 

Now the other x-men were beginning to come to.

"My back…" Cyclops groaned.

"My head…" Marvel Girl moaned.

"Oh my everything…" Kitty complained.

Police sirens were approaching in the distance; it was time to make a hasty retreat.

"Come on we gotta get out of here! Scott said.

Jean and Kitty gathered up Amara. "What about him?" Rouge said pointing to the unconscious boy lying by her feet. "We'll bring him with us!" Scott answered.

After all they couldn't just leave him there even if he did seem a little psycho. Rouge and Scott dragged the maverick monster into the backseat and slumped up against the knocked out Magma and sped off before the authorities arrived. 

As they drove off at high speed back towards the Institute, sirens approaching in the distance, Rouge couldn't help but comment. "What a way to start off the summer."

****

Next Time: Hydro needs the Professors help, but for what? And will the Professor help him? What does everyone else think about this? Things are about to get more confusing real soon.


	4. Recruited

Howdy, y'all! Yeah I'm back again. Thanks very much to all my beautiful reviewers.

RyanGosling4Ever **(Damn straight I'm gonna keep going!)**

Gothic-rogue13 **(Wow, nobody ever said anything I ever did rocked before, Thanks!)**

WildCeed **(You've always been a very positive and appreciated reviewer, Thanks so much!)**

King of the Worthless **(I know how you feel about new characters in fanfics and I agree completely, don't worry this won't be your average story and some things just might surprise ya.)**

Pleeeze tell others I need more reviews! **Pleeeeze! Don't make me beg!!!!**

Oh and by the way lemme just clear some things up really quick. In my story Rahne and Jubilee are still at the institute in case you're wondering. Oh and I promise to spell Rogue's name correctly from now on. Lemma know if I get Kurt's accent right.

Also I still promise to make each and every character equally important in my stories, not just the new characters, not just fan favorites, **everybody! **And I plan on getting started on that very soon. I just wanted to give Hydro the proper introduction. The kind most of the main characters got. The kind of introduction the new recruits should have got. 

Oh and speaking of Hydro don't expect him to suddenly be the most powerful mutant out there. Don't expect to find out about his past right away. And definitely don't expect for everyone to automatically fall in love with him either. The next couple of chapters will show you what I mean.

Anyway, in this chapter we're gonna find out what the heck Hydro is doing in Bayville in the first place. See didn't I tell ya things were gonna get interesting.

Disclaimer: Sorry to disappoint you but I only own Hydro that's it.

"Recruited" 

6:15 p.m.

"And then we came back here." Scott finished explaining.

Standing in the main living room was Cyclops, Rogue and Marvel girl. Telling the accounts of their encounter with the new mutant to two of the institutes instructors.

It had been a long story as Scott had warned the Professor and Dr. Hank McCoy. A long and confusing story. Very few of the scouting missions had ever gone exactly as planned. Almost every student at the institute had a different story about how they were approached and how things eventually went awry. In the end however things usually worked themselves out. Even on the couple of times when students decided not to attend the institute things always stayed peaceful and non-violent, until now.

The X-men actually had been forced to fight potential team members before. All the members of the Brotherhood had been through similar experiences, yet unlike with those mutants they had no clue who or what they were dealing with now. 

One thing was certain however they needed answers and at that moment there was only one person who could give them the answers. And he couldn't be reached. 

Meanwhile in another wing of the newly rebuilt mansion in a room known as the infirmary, two ailing teenagers lay in beds while another teen watched over them. The entire room looked like a hospital room full of medical equipment and adjustable beds for the patients. One of the patients was still out-cold while another was waking up.

"Uhhhhnnn…" Amara groaned. "Where am I?"

"Hey." Kitty said softly. "Your back in the mansion.You had a pretty bad spill back there."

"Mm". Amara moaned in agreement.

She looked to her bedside and saw the reason for her injury.

Across from her lay a stranger wearing a strange black and blue costume. At first glance she thought the stranger was Evan Daniels a.k.a. Spyke. But Spyke had blonde hair this persons hair was black. The stranger was a bit taller too. She examined his face and slowly it came to her before hitting her as hard as a punch in the face.

"What's he doing here?!!" Amara exclaimed. She made an attempt to rise out of bed but fell back again when the pain in her abdomen kicked in.

"The cops came and Scott said to bring him." Kitty explained. "He was supposed to be a new recruit remember?"

"Him?" Amara said looking at the once dangerous mutant that was still out cold from Rogue's incapacitating touch.

****

*BAMF!*

With a puff of smoke and a slight flash another young adult entered the infirmary. A blue furred young man with a pointed tail and bright eyes named Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler. 

"Just vanted to see how you vere holding up." He said to Amara. He and the others were a bit worried about her when she was carried in to the mansion and she wasn't moving.

"I'm fine." She assured him with a smile.

"Vhat about him." He said pointing to the young man lying on the other occupied bed.

"I don't know." Kitty answered. 

Both Kitty and Kurt leaned over his bedside examining the stranger closely. He didn't seem so dangerous now.

Who was he and what did he want?

****

"WATER!!"

Both Kurt and Kitty jumped back with a yelp. The boy's eyes shot open as he sprang up from the sick bed.

"WATER!!" he repeated.

"Uh, hold on!" Kitty stammered. She hadn't expected for him to awaken so soon. If only someone had thought ahead enough to restrain him in case something like this happened.

"Just lemme get the Professor!" she ran to the room's intercom immediately.

"Profesooooor, come quick!"

The boy jumped up out of the bed and made for the door.

"Vait a minute!" Kurt said trying to stop him. He managed to get a hold of the back of the boy's belt and tried to pull him back. His grip came loose and Kurt fell on his keister with a thump. Now the boy was out the door and heading down the hall.

"Kitty what's wrong?" the Professor asked through the intercom.

"Um, he's loose." She answered.

On another part of the house Ray Crisp was looking for a little liquid refreshment himself. He Bobby Drake, Sam Guthrie and Roberto DeCosta had just finished an exhausting training session in the danger room and were feeling a little parched. They all stepped into the kitchen where one of the instructors was having a snack. The teen known as Berzerker got a clean glass from one of the cupboards and tuned the knob on the kitchen sink. Nothing came out.

"Hey Logan, what's wrong with the sink?"

The gruff looking man scarfed down another chocolate-chip cookie and took a swig of his orange juice before answering. "Pipes are still a little screwed up." He said. "Plenty of water in the fridge though." 

The tall, longhaired blonde opened up the fridge that was full of bottled water. He passed out the bottles to his classmates and got one for himself. "Boy am Ah thirsty," he said before closing the fridge door. Just as the students began to enjoy their refreshments the peaceful scene was broken when a stranger burst into the room. 

He ran straight through the completely puzzled boys as the equally confused Logan watched on. Was he new or something? There were so many kids at the school it was sometimes hard to keep track of them all. The boy ran straight to the sink and feverishly turned the knobs. He then stuck his head completely into the sink twisting around to where his mouth was positioned directly underneath the faucet head. 

Nothing came out. 

Bobby spoke up first "Um, who are you?" he asked. He was ignored. Now the boy was banging away at the faucet trying to force the water out. 

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, AH!" the boy grunted with his mouth still wide open.

"Uh ya know there's some -" Sam was interrupted.

The boy pulled his head from the sink and ran from the room as fast as he came, screaming for water.

" water in the fridge." Sam finished.

The boy thought quickly; if there was no water in the kitchen then there was only one other place it could be found.

"If anybody needs the bathroom go now!" spoke a sweaty blond haired boy. Evan had just come from the Skate Park were he often came on weekends to practice his skate boarding. He hadn't gotten the practice that he usually got but today was different. Instead of the usual praise he got from his fellow extreme sports peers he received many unfriendly comments about his being a mutant. "Freak" and "cheater" were just a few of the insults he took until he finally left before his temper got away with him. All Evan wanted to do now was take a shower and he didn't want to be interrupted. 

"Anybody?!" he said making sure. No one answered.

He walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. As soon as he took of his shirt there was a loud bang at the door. 

"Look I'm in here now, okay!" There was another bang at the door.

"Buzz off already!" he said getting more annoyed. Sharing a bathroom was such a pain. 

Now there was quiet. "Finally." Evan thought aloud. 

Evan kicked off his scuffed up sneakers when suddenly…**Bam! **Someone kicked the door in. "Hey what are you…!" before Evan could finish the sentence he was grabbed by both arms and flung from the room. The stranger then shut the door back behind him. At that moment many of the houses residents were coming own the hall. Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Sunspot, Professor X and others came up to Evan. 

"Evan are you all right, were you hurt?" the Professor asked 

"I'm alright but some idiot just shoved me out of the bathroom. Who was he?"

"We're not quite sure yet." The Professor said 

"Yeah all we know is he came running into the kitchen like a chicken with its head cut off." Logan said

"Screaming for some water." Roberto added

"He's looking for water in the bathroom?" Kurt said. "That's so gross!"

"Let's see what he's up to." Cyclops said walking up to the barely cracked open door.

He slowly opened up the door and peered inside. He saw no one.

"Well at least he's not drinking from the toilet." Iceman whispered. 

Logan now fully opened the door where everyone could see inside. They could hear water running; someone was in the shower. 

****

*Snikt*

Logan popped his claws just in case and approached the shower curtain. He got a grip on the curtain and with a swift yank pulled the curtain to the side. Inside the stranger was standing with his mouth wide open letting the water coming out of the showerhead and into his mouth. He didn't even turn his attention away from his drinking while everyone piled into the room to see what was going on. They just stood and stared until the Professor broke the silence.

"Excuse me." The young man turned and looked at the professor just now realizing that everyone was staring at him. 

"Excuse me, my name is Profess-"

"Professor Charles Xavier." The young man interrupted speaking clearly and calmly for the first time.

"Yes." The Professor said a little surprised

"This is the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters." The boy said

"Yes, yes it is." The Professor said 

"I need your help."

"Of course, please follow me where we can talk."

The boy stepped out of the shower, soaking wet, and followed the Professor past the onlookers. 

"That is one weird guy." Evan said saying what everyone there was thinking.

6:24 p.m.A study in the mansion

The Professor sat across from a young man who claimed to need his help. Only earlier that day this timid looking boy had been described by his students as a maniac. His behavior did seem a little strange but the Professor knew from personal experience that first impressions were often misleading. So the Professor decided to give the young man the benefit of the doubt. 

"Now then, you said that you needed my help."

The boy looked up from his drink of water that someone had been kind enough to get for him and moved the towel he used to dry off with that was draped over his head. From the look of the boy's face he was about the same age as the students at the institute. He couldn't have been older then sixteen if he was even that old. The boy looked at the Professor and began to speak.

"There are some people", he began, "People that are after me." The boy spoke in a low, flat tone with little or no emotion in his voice. If he spoke any louder he would have been whispering.

"I see." The Professor said folding his hands in front of his face, as he often tended to do.

"I need you…to help me."

"Who are these people?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No."

"What is it they want with you?"

"I'm not completely sure, but if they find me…something bad will happen. Something very bad."

"Do you have any friends or relatives that I can contact?"

"No."

"Where exactly are you from?" 

"I don't remember."

"And you say these people are after you?"

"Yes."

The Professor analyzed everything that the boy said. The last thing that the institute needed was more detractors. More enemies. The inhabitants of the institute had been through more than there share of grievances. They had managed to survive everything that fate had thrown in their collective directions, and by allowing this young man to stay they would perhaps be allowing even more trouble to literally darken their doorstep. 

Several parents had threatened to pull their children from the institute when it and the existence of mutants had become public knowledge. They feared for their children's safety but the Professor assured them that the institute would be the safest place for them. Hate groups were popping up all over the country supporting the complete extermination of mutants. The people the boy spoke of could be anyone; although the Professor could sense that the boy was in fact telling the truth could he risk putting the others in jeopardy? If something were to happen because of the boys being there it would because he had made the decision to help him. 

What of this feeling of desperation that he was feeling coming from this boy? Could he just ignore it? Could he simply cast him aside even though the boy obviously felt that the only one who could help him was him? He was a mutant after all and he had pledged to help all those in need when he first created the institute, didn't he? And what about those he had already made a promise to? These children depended on them and their parents had entrusted him to keep them safe. Could he just say, "No, we have enough problems as it is" and let it stand at that. What would happen to the boy if he didn't help him? 

What would he do? What could he do? 

The Professor turned away from the boy and sat silently for a moment contemplating the predicament. The boy spoke.

"I need to get stronger, I have to learn to control my power. You help people learn how to do this."

"Yes, yes I do." He said still not facing the boy.

"Will you help me?"

The Professor tuned to face the boy a looked at him for a moment. The boy looked back.

He had his answer.

"Yes, I will help you, however you must obey all of the rules and guidelines I will set for you."

The boy nodded.

"You must treat everyone at this institute with respect as the same as they will treat you."

The boy nodded again.

"And lastly you must promise to use your gifts only to help never to hurt."

"I promise you."

"Good."

The Professor began to wheel out of the room. "Come, we have much to do and much more to discuss." The boy followed.

Suddenly the Professor came to the realization that he had forgotten to ask a most important question during the interview. "I don't believe I asked," he began, "what is you're name?".

The boy stopped in his tracks and stared of into space before answering.

"Hydro."

"Hydro?"

"Yes."

"Well Hydro welcome to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters."

****

Next Time: We get to see what's been going on with the Brotherhood. How do they feel about all that's happened in the past few months and how well are they coping? What's Wanda up to? 

And who decides to drop by and give them a little visit? 

****


	5. Reunited

Yessssssss! Woo-Hoo!!! I'm back, I'm finally back!!!!  
Praise the lord!!!! Halleluiah!! HA ha!!  
  
Sorry it's been so long since I updated but I got a really good excuse for being gone so long. Check it out, my computer actually caught on fire! Seriously! I bullshit you not. The piece of crap actually caught on fire. But fret not, until I pony up the dough to get a new one or until Santa finds it in his heart to get me one for Christmas I'm just gonna use the labs at the nearest library to continue my work. I totally understand if everybody hates me by now but I promise you it'll be worth the wait; during the time I've been gone I came up with a lot of good ideas to make this story even better. Sooooo without further ado check out the newest chapter. Man it's good to be back!!!!!!!!!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Reunited"  
  
  
The Brotherhood of Bayville Boarding House6:36 p.m.  
  
  
  
  
  
"Man I'm telling ya in to weeks I'll have a full grown beard." Fred said stepping through the front door of the boarding house. They never bothered o lock the door; the house had been on the news so everyone knew who lived there or more importantly what lived there. Even if someone did bother to break in and trash the place you wouldn't notice. The house was to put it mildly a complete mess. Pizza boxes, soda cans, clothes, comic books, candy wrappers, and plain old trash were among the many things strewn about the house. Without the proper adult supervision the Brotherhood's home was going to seed. Nevertheless to these three this was home, messy or not.   
  
"I'm sorry man I just don't see it." Toad said hopping through the door behind Fred.  
  
"How can you not see it?" Fred said pointing to his chin.  
  
Toad squinted his large eyes and examined Fred's double chin. After a few seconds Toad shrugged his shoulders in defeat.  
  
"Hold on..." Fred groaned in annoyance.  
  
Fred walked into the living room, knelt down by the couch and began to search under the cushions for something. Toad hopped over and watched him. After thoroughly examining the cushions Fred reached under the couch and effortlessly lifted it into the air with one hand.  
  
"Here it is." Fred said. Fred was searching for Toad's magnifying glass. He scooped it up and dropped the couch back down with a sharp thud. Fred then handed the magnifying glass to Toad.  
  
"Now look."  
  
Toad once again examined Fred's chin.  
  
"Oh" he said surprised. "O.k. now I see 'em." What Toad saw were three skinny facial hairs sticking out from Fred's chin.  
  
"Yep I figure by this time next week I'll have a nice goatee comin' in." Fred said triumphantly.  
Toad then grabbed one of the hairs between his thumb and forefinger and plucked it from Fred's chin. Fred yelped and jumped back seeing what Toad had done. Toad held the hair between his fingers for a moment and with a smirk blew it into the air.  
  
"Make a wish." Toad said with a grin.  
  
"Oh, you are so dead Toad!" Fred threatened as he lunged at Toad.  
  
Toad quickly hopped away while being chased by his behemoth buddy. Fred was hell-bent on avenging his lost whisker. Despite the fact that Fred was pretty high up on everyone's list of mutants you never want to make angry, Toad was in a playful mood, and besides Fred was so easy to anger sometimes. The only person easier to annoy was Lance. Speaking of Lance...  
  
  
  
"Would you two stop goofing off for two seconds and help me this stuff?" Lance growled  
  
He was walking through carrying two heavy-looking grocery bags. Toad hopped over in front of him forgetting for a moment that he was being chased around the room.  
  
"Two whole seconds?" Toad asked.  
  
Toad saw his friend carrying the bags all by himself and felt a little concerned.  
  
"Wow those look heavy, lemme help ya out there." Toad reached up and grabbed an apple of the top of one of the bags (to help lighten the load) and took a bite out of it. Toad snack was interrupted when to very large hands grabbed him by his collar and shirt.   
  
"You heard him," Fred said carrying Toad toward the front door, "Go help!"  
Fred then tossed Toad out the door and towards Lance's jeep. Lance entered the kitchen and heard a short scream followed by a hollow thump.   
  
"Better not have broken anything!" he said sitting the food on the kitchen table.  
  
"Nah he's fine." Fred said nonchalantly.  
  
"I was talking about my car."  
  
  
  
Toad and Fred brought in the rest of the bags and the three began to unload the contents in the empty cupboards, cabinets and fridge. They had basically purchased what most teenagers would consider to be groceries. Mostly junk food and the like, but was better than nothing.  
Only earlier that day the thought of a fridge full of food seemed hard to believe. Mystique was gone and there was no telling if or when she would be back. They had no money and were becoming desperate. They had even considered getting part-time jobs. In fact that morning Toad had gone out to use what little money they had left to get a paper so that maybe they could find something in the classifieds.   
  
While at the newsstand, Toad accidentally strayed away from the newspapers and into the "adult" section. The stand's owner happened to catch Toad in the act and proceeded to introduce Toad to the "you read it, you buy it rule". Toad barely had enough for the paper let alone some other "stuff". Desperate, toad asked the gentleman standing next to him if he could borrow a few bucks. The man was businessman-looking type, with a suit and tie, glasses and a very stern look about him. Toad definitely figured that this guy could spare a few bucks. The man however just ignored Toad's begging or was trying to. So Toad caught his attention by grabbing the man by his coat in attempt to show how desperate he was.   
  
"Come on man..." Toad continued "Just five bucks, pleeeeeze?"   
  
The man just pushed Toad off of him with a disgusted look on his face. He then hurried off down the street and muttered something under his breath like "freak" or something. The stand's owner just stared at Toad arms folded, expecting Toad to try and weasel his way out of it.   
  
"Well kid, you got the money or not?" he asked  
  
Toad looked back at the man with a smirk and produced a fat, leather wallet. "Will cash do?" he replied  
  
Toad had managed to lift the businessman's wallet during his little performance. Imagine Fred and Lance's surprise when Toad returned with the newspaper, a wallet full of money (both cash and plastic), not to mention some extra "reading material". The two were happy enough just knowing that Toad didn't spend it on any magic beans.  
  
With the food now unloaded the trio was about to enjoy a well-deserved meal...suddenly there was a crash from upstairs. The three looked at each other, all equally startled and confused.  
  
"What was that?" Fred asked sounding a bit worried  
  
"I don't know, but we're gonna find out!" Lance said heading upstairs. Toad and Fred followed.  
  
About halfway upstairs the trio heard another crash and what sounded like a female voice. The boys made their way upstairs and into the hall and heard the voice again, it was coming from Mystique's bedroom.   
  
All three froze. What if... what if it was Mystique!?  
  
The thought of her coming back was always a possibility in the backs of their minds but they usually tried not to think about it. She was so angry last time and the house was in even worse condition than it was before.  
  
"Uh is that...?" Toad asked fearfully  
  
"What do we do?" Fred said panicking  
  
Lance crept up to the door slowly with Toad and Fred standing close behind him. He lightly knocked on the door.  
  
"Uh, Mystique is that you?" Lance asked hoping not to get an answer.  
  
The female gave an angry grunt from behind the door.   
  
"Look we can explain...uh.... it's all Toad's fault!"   
  
"Yeah, Toad's fault!" Fred seconded  
  
"No it's not!" Toad shouted trying to defend himself. Toad then flung the door open and his scowl quickly melted into a smile.  
  
"Wanda! Baby!"  
  
The intruder was not there former "Boss Lady" at all. It was Wanda feverishly tearing apart Mystique's, like she was looking for something. Fred and Lance were relieved; after all she was no threat to them. They hated her father almost as much as she did. Both Fred and Lance headed back down stairs, while Toad and Wanda got reacquainted.   
  
As the two headed downstairs they noticed the door was wide open. It couldn't have been Wanda; she was definitely in the house before them.  
  
"Now what?" Lance sighed  
  
A clatter coming from the kitchen caught their attention, so they went to investigate. Another familiar face awaited them.  
  
"Boom Boom!" they both exclaimed.  
  
"What's up guys, long time no see." Tabitha asked as she tore into a bag of potato chips.  
  
Tabitha was right behind Mystique on the list of people the guys were hoping would never show up at their house again.   
  
Where do you keep the sodas in this dump?"  
  
Back upstairs another happy reunion was taking place.  
  
"Where ya been at Honey-buns?" Toad asked, happily hopping over to Wanda.   
Wanda hadn't even noticed his presence up until now; she was too focused on the task at hand. That repulsive odor and that annoying voice were all she needed to let out a disgusted groan.  
  
"So where ya been all this time? You never write, you never call..."  
  
Wanda just shoved Toad out of the way and continued her search.  
  
"Don't feel like talking huh?"   
  
Toad just picked himself of off the floor and hopped over onto Mystique's king-sized bed.  
  
"I understand sweetie, you're probably tired from you're trip. Wanna lay down for a while?"  
  
Toad invitingly patted the cushy bed and grinned. Wanda just ignored him and began searching through the drawers of one of Mystique's dressers. As she searched she feverishly tossed the contents of the drawers into the air. Toad was temporarily distracted by the ladies undergarments flying through the air, especially when a bra landed on his head.  
  
"Okay..." he said delicately removing the bra from his head  
  
"Ya hungry? We got plenty of food downstairs."  
  
Wanda just grunted and started looking through a bookshelf.  
  
"You sure? We got cheese, squeezy cheese..."  
  
Toad was still being ignored.  
  
"Okay then..." he sighed and laid down on the bed, staring p at the ceiling.  
  
"Where's Pietro?" Wanda asked rather gruffly  
  
Toad sat up from the bed and sat on the side of the bed facing Wanda who was now searching the closet.  
  
"Uh I dunno." He answered " I ain't seen him since he ran off with his father."  
  
Toad knew by now not to refer to Magneto as "your father" to Wanda.  
  
Wanda continued searching.  
  
"So watcha looking for?"   
  
"Something that'll help me find Magneto." Wanda answered  
  
"Oh well you ain't never gonna find nothin' in there babycakes. Mystique kept all the important information and stuff in her computer." Toad said pointing to the computer behind him  
  
Wanda finally poked her head out of the closet.  
  
"Show me."  
  
Toad hopped out of the bed and into the chair in front of Mystique's computer in one leap.  
  
"Allrighty" he said cracking his knuckles, "Lets see what we got here."  
  
Toad began searching the computer's files for any Magneto-related info. Wanda walked over to behind Toad and leaned over as she carefully watched the screen.  
  
"Nope, nope, nope..." Toad repeated after file after file came up empty.  
  
"Stop!" Wanda commanded  
  
She saw something or rather someone familiar. One of the members of Magneto's new team. The one called "Gambit". As it turned out Mystique managed to gather much information on Magneto's new team before their eventual encounter. All Wanda needed was locations. If she could find one of them it would only be a matter of time before she would find Magneto himself. Toad printed out a sheet for Wanda.  
  
Wanda took the sheet and eyed it closely it was only a matter of time now. Just as Wanda was about to leave Toad hopped in front of the doorway, blocking her path.  
  
"Aren't you forgetting something?"  
  
Toad puckered up and waited to receive his payment for all his help.  
  
  
  
Back downstairs Tabitha was explaining why she was back at the boarding house. For one thing Tabitha was avoiding helping out with the last of the minor repairs on the mansion. Also she wanted absolute freedom on her little vacation from school and figured the guys would keep her thoroughly entertained. At the moment however she was the one entertaining them.  
  
"Whoa..." Fed said in amazement  
  
"Cool" Lance agreed  
  
The two were staring at Tabitha's shiny new pierced tongue. A metallic ball at the end of pin protruded from the center of her tongue.  
  
"Ya like it?" she beamed proudly  
  
Krrrrrrssssssh! "AAAaaaaaahh!! Thump!  
  
Someone fell past the living room window followed by shards of broken glass.  
The three stared out the window and then directed their attention towards the stairs as Wanda walked out.  
  
"Uh huh..." Lance said  
  
"Yeah so anyway, did it hurt?" Fred asked  
  
"No way!" Tabitha said  
  
  
  
Back outside Toad gathered what little consciousness he had left to bid his sweetheart a fond farewell.  
  
"Bye sweetie...have a safe trip..."  
  
Wanda just ignored him as she began to walk in the direction of the nearest bus terminal.  
  
"It's only a matter of time now father I will find you no matter what it takes."  
  
  
Next Time: Hydro trains for the first time in the danger room with the other new recruits. It's his first test on the long road to becoming an X-man. Will he pass the test? Why does he have a problem with his new uniform? What does everyone think about his being at the institute? One things for sure Hydro's gonna surprise everyone in this one. 


	6. Training Day

Hey peoples, I just thought I'd take this time to explain a thing or two about Hydro's powers just so that I don't have to do any unnecessary explaining later.

As you've probably figured out by now Hydro's powers are water-based. First off he can control small bodies of water, by using this power he can do all sorts of things like say… increasing the water pressure under a hydrant to send it flying off the hinges. (Remember how he used that little trick on Freddy?) 

Hydro can also turn his body into a water-like substance. While in "water-mode" (I still haven't thought of a better name for it yet) Hydro's body takes on all the basic physical properties of water. Solid objects can pass straight through him. He becomes malleable, meaning he can change the shape and size of his body. This allows him to do all kinds of crazy stuff like traveling through water pipes or simply expanding his body to huge proportions. Hydro can even fire streams of water from his arms no matter what "mode" he's in.

But with all of these fantastic abilities come a few setbacks as well.

For instance, Hydro's body has a different metabolism than most people. He requires much less food but much more water. Hydro only requires one meal every three days, yet he needs about 

1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water a day to stay properly hydrated. And as anyone who's ever been dehydrated will tell you it reeeeeaaaaly sucks. Hydro, unlike the other mutants who "transform", can't just stay like that all day. It apparently takes a lot out of him and it can be difficult at time to change from one "mode" to the other.

When Hydro's normal though he has all the same weaknesses all of us have. He can be shot, stabbed, beat up, etc. 

Hydro's uniform has a few special abilities as well. 

(Remember I'm not talking about Hydro's X-men uniform) Basically it mimics Hydro's physical form. So when he's water his uniform is water and when he's flesh his uniform will solidify with him. This should prove pretty useful at times. But I'll explain more about that later.

Time for some fun with some of the new recruits, this is kinda long but it's got plenty of action. Hope you enjoy it.

****

"Training Day"

Inside of her room a mutant, her roommate, and two of her instructors, also mutants sit and wonder about something that's been troubling them. Or rather someone. All of them are in uniform as if they are getting ready for something.

"Is that all you can remember Rouge?" the Professor asked

"A-Ahm sorry but that's all. That's all I can remember." She said dejectedly

This young girl had just described memories…that didn't belong to her. They belonged to a stranger named Hydro.

This was her gift.

She could take something very precious from others. Something more precious than anything of monetary value. She could steal memories, thoughts, powers and abilities. She could take whatever made someone special and make it her own. Whatever anyone else could do she could do as well simply by touching them.

But with this gift came a price. She couldn't control this great power she'd been given. By coming in contact with others she could put their lives in jeopardy. Simply brushing up against someone could render them unconscious; coming into contact longer than a moment or two could put someone in a coma. Because of this her life was a secluded one. Even when around others she would always be isolated. She would always feel alone.

This was her curse.

At the moment her mind wasn't on her own problems it was on this stranger Hydro. He was the most recent people she had absorbed. Something was different about him, in more ways than one. Unlike those who she had absorbed before his memories were extremely difficult to remember. Normally the memories would come in very quick and unexpected flashes. As brief as they were the memories were always so vivid the images seemed like her own recalled experiences.

Not this time though. She had only one flash and it was very difficult to describe, but she tried her best. Everything was black; she couldn't see anything. She could hear though. She could hear the low murmur of voices. The sound of the voices soon changed to the sounds of what were probably power-tools whirring and buzzing, getting louder and louder. Then nothing. She was lucky to remember even that much though. A part of everyone else she had ever absorbed always stayed inside of her but not this time. Almost all of Hydro was out of her system.

"It's like the harder Ah try to remember the more Ah forget." Rouge explained

"So we're still completely in the dark about our new friend." Said the Beast

"It would appear so. I'm afraid that my mind probe was unable to find anything as well." said the Professor

"We couldn't find anything on Cerebro's computer either. No birth records, school records or addresses. Nothing. It's like he was born yesterday." Said Kitty

"It's as if he just fell out of the sky." Said Beast

Perhaps this was a mistake. Perhaps accepting this young man into this school was a mistake the Professor thought. Before he had the chance to ponder it further there was a knock at the door.

It was Logan and Scott also in uniform.

"It's time." Logan said

The Danger-Room 8:00 a.m. sharp

This had never happened before. Never before had all the instructors as well as all the students shown up to observe a Danger-Room session. The instructors were there on official business, not only to observe the new student but also to ensure the safety of all the students partaking in the exercises. The students however were mainly there out of curiosity, there were already so many rumors circulating about the new guy and now they could see for themselves what was really going on.

Down below four students known as Cannonball, Sunspot, Iceman and Berzerker waited patiently for things to kick off. 

"Wow looks like the whole dang house showed up for this one." Sam said

"Cool. I work better in front of a crowd any way." Bobby shrugged 

"Yeah… right." Ray said trading a look with Roberto

"What's taking so long anyway?" Roberto asked impatiently

"We're waiting for the new student remember?" Sam answered

"Oh yeah, psycho." Ray

"I thought his name was Hydro." Sam said confusedly

Ray rolled his eyes. "You now what I mean."

"Do ya really think he's crazy?"

"Come on man, you saw him the other day." Bobby said

"Why do you think everyone's here."

"Just in case he flips out again." Roberto said

His friend's comments weren't exactly putting Sam at ease. Needless to say his students also shared the Professors uneasiness about the newest recruit. Hydro hadn't exactly made the best first impression on everyone and the four weren't looking forward to living with him let alone training with him. The Professor had explained however that this training session would help to prove if Hydro was trustworthy or not as well help establish bonds. In the Danger-Room there was no such thing as "every man for himself". They would have to rely on each other and this was easier said than done.

The boys weren't the only ones getting impatient; high up above them in the observation deck someone else was wondering about Hydro's being fashionably late.

"He was supposed to be here on time." Logan growled, "What's up with this kid Charles? He get cold feet?"

"I seriously doubt that." The Professor answered, "He seemed to be looking very forward to this training session. Also he's been very enthusiastic about learning to control his powers."

"Well he wasn't looking forward to the dress code." Cyclops said

"Really? Why?"

"Dunno. He seemed really attached to that other suit of his though."

Back down below the doors to the Danger-Room were opening. The boys quickly turned their attention and stopped all conversations. The tense moment was soon followed by a shared feeling of relief. It wasn't Hydro it was Amara.

"Amara, I didn't know you were training with us." Sam said

"Yeah I thought you were sitting this one out." Ray said

"Well I'm not. I decided that I want to train instead. Okay?!"

The boys just looked at each other. Hanging out with Tabitha and Jean had definitely made Amara a lot more assertive; not that she needed to be.

"Does anyone have a problem with that?" She said putting her hands on her hips.

"No your majesty." The all answered unenthusiastically.

"Good." She chirped

Once again the door was opening. And a shadowed figure emerged.

This time it was Hydro n an X-men new recruit uniform. All eyes were on him. Icy glares or not he had made it this far and there was no stopping now. This was the only first of many tests he would face. He had come too far. It was time to get down to business.

1st Exercise

"This exercise will test your speed and agility" the Professor began, "as well it will prepare you for some scenarios you might find yourself in…" 

Hydro stared intently up into the tower where his instructor was briefing him. Paying close intention to every single word. Behind him his fellow trainees were whispering and snickering amongst themselves. They really didn't need to listen to the Professors instructions anyway, they had been in this simulation before; besides the Professor was speaking more to Hydro than he was to them.

"…avoid the paintballs until time is up." The Prof. continued "Now is everyone ready?"

"Ready." The six except for Hydro answered. Hydro gave a simple nod.

"Alright the exercise will begin…"

The guns lowered from the ceiling and took aim.

"Now!"

Immediately the five students that participated in this exercise before scrambled around the room in different directions, as Hydro tried his best to keep up. The five guns turrets began to fire, trying to keep up with the youthfully quick students as they ran, dodged and rolled about the room. They weren't quite fast enough to keep up with the agile teens as long as they kept moving until the sixty-second time limit was up. If the paint cannons locked on to them however then running wouldn't help. 

Half of the time had passed and so far things were going good. No one had been tagged by the canary-yellow spheres yet. From the observation deck the students looked like roaches running with the lights on as the paint zoomed in every direction. The room soon became polka dotted with the missed attempt of the guns. Even the new student was doing a fairly impressive job, until Magma zipped across his path. The gun that fired at her barely missed her heels, but left a small puddle that Hydro didn't see in time to stop himself from slipping on it. Once down the cannons almost immediately noticed the lack of movement from one of the targets, and proceeded to focus their attention on Hydro.

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

"Time!"

The exercise was over. And all but one student didn't have one drop of paint on their person.

Hydro slowly picked himself of the floor. He was drenched in paint to the point where he was dripping on the floor. As he swiped away two globs of paint from his eyes, his teammates did their best to stifle their snickering. Even the Professor himself had to fight back a smile.

2nd Exercise 

"This next exercise focuses on teamwork and coordination as a group." Said the Professor

Hydro used his powers to wash the last of the paint off of his brand-new uniform and then walked towards the observation deck to receive his instructions on the next training sequence. 

"It's important to work together during this sequence if you hope to complete it successfully."

Iceman, Cannonball and Berzerker traded sly glances; they knew what was coming.

Sunspot and Magma looked at them confusedly.

"Alright, what are you three smiling about?" Roberto asked

"We've been in this exercise before." Sam whispered

"And we totally aced it." Bobby added

"Really?" Amara asked

"Yeah, us and Jubilee." Ray answered 

Ray turned and gave wink to Jubilee up on the deck; she returned the wink and gave a quick thumbs-up for luck, making sure no one saw her. What happened that day was still their little secret as long as Jamie didn't say anything. He wouldn't though; he tried not to bring it up so that the others wouldn't remember they still owed him one.

"Just follow our lead and this'll go real smooth." Bobby said 

Ray nudged Bobby to stop talking. It was about this time that the others noticed Hydro was looking at them. He was a little too far to hear what they were saying, but still. Amara felt that same uncomfortable feeling that she felt the last time she had looked at those eyes. Her friends could feel it too. It wasn't so bad this time though. The first time his eyes were so cold, there was no feeling, no life in them. This time it was different, his eyes had a little emotion to them now. In fact he even seemed a little sad about something. Whether he was upset about the first exercise or if he always looked that way they didn't now, or particularly care. 

"Is everyone ready?" the Prof. asked

"Oh yeah." Iceman answered for everyone

"Good. This exercise will begin…now!"

With that Beast activated the sequence and the center of the floor began to open. From it emerged a wide flat metal base. Four large metallic tentacles shot forth from the base and whizzed upwards until they reached their full length, which nearly touched the ceiling of the vast room. After about a second the tentacles sped at the students. Once again the young mutants scrambled about the room. 

The tentacles were much faster than the paintball-guns and definitely more dangerous. But the students would be hard to catch, especially since the first exercise had given them a good warm-up. Two of the tentacles had managed to herd Cannonball into a corner. With him cornered they moved in for the attack. Sam had been in this situation before and they weren't gonna get him this time. 

He crouched down and at waited for just…the right…moment.

**__**

SHOOOOM! CLANG!

Sam shot straight up causing the two tentacles to slam into each other. 

He then ricocheted of the ceiling and into another one of the tentacles.

"Go Sam!" Kitty cheered 

"Alright Sam." Bobby encouraged

Not everyone was doing quite so well; Roberto was fighting off one of the tentacles all by himself.

As usual Roberto had managed to let his confidence in his powers cloud his judgement. He had went away from the game plan and found himself isolated. This wouldn't have been that bad if they were out in open daylight but Roberto had managed to soak up only so much sunlight before coming into the Danger-Room. Wrestling with the very powerful tentacles would exhaust his energy and fast. 

"Get offa me you stinking…" He threatened

Out of the corner of his eye Sunspot saw another tentacle charging at him. "Great." He thought to himself, there was no time to push the first one off.

**__**

BZZZZAAPT!

A well-placed electric blast made the charging tentacle recoil. 

"Thanks Ray." Sunspot grunted as he finally tossed the attacking tentacle off of him.

"No prob." He shrugged, "Just stick to the plan."

Unfortunately one person didn't know the game plan. Using the same herding technique they used on Cannonball one of the tentacles snatched up Hydro. No one was in a big hurry to help either.

That was okay, Hydro wasn't going quietly. After pulling off his gloves he began firing streams at each of the tentacles. This was successful in temporarily stunning the tentacles, which made them back off from the other students but not quite strong enough to do any real damage.

Suddenly the tentacles started going into their "spin cycle" and started rotating around the room faster and faster. This made it impossible to aim. Hydro in frustration started punching and kicking at the tentacle that had him caught in it's grip. The tentacle then responded by freeing its grip and flung Hydro into the observation deck's front window with a loud **SMACK!**

Everyone in the deck flinched a bit when Hydro made contact. He stuck to the window for a moment like fly on a windshield; his face pressed up against the glass, before slowly sliding down which made a slight screeching sound. He then fell on the Danger-Room floor with a thump.

"Now let me get this straight." Wolverine said turning to Scott, Jean and the others.

"It took all five of you to take this guy down?"

Kitty, Rouge, Jean and Scott all looked a bit embarrassed. _His_ poor performance was making _them _look bad. 

"Well…" Jean began

"Um…" Kitty said

Rouge just looked down at the floor, rubbing her arm and shoulder.

"He wasn't exactly in a good frame of mind when it happened, you know?" Scott explained

"He seemed kind of out of it at the time."  


"Huh, well he oughta be out of it more often" Wolverine said, "This is getting hard to watch."

"Professor are you really serious about letting him be a part of the team." Kurt asked

"This guy's hopeless Professor, you might as well face it." Spyke added

"Perhaps", the Professor said turning to his students "But the least we can do is give him a chance. After all not all of us did so well when we first came here. Everyone needs a chance sometimes. Correct?"

Kurt and Evan were reminded of the fiascoes they were in the middle of when they first came to the institute. When they were feeling like things weren't going to work out, when they felt like giving up on themselves, it took the faith others put in him to keep from quitting. I they didn't have someone to believe in them who knows were they'd be now.

"Yes." They both answered

Back down below the others were wrapping thing up, literally. 

The students had managed to tangle the tentacles by crisscrossing paths. Now it was time to move in for the kill. A powerful blast of ice froze the squirming tentacles solid. With that Magma and Berzerker used their own abilities to topple two of the towering appendages.

"Ready Sam?" Roberto said

"Ready!" Sam said

Roberto and Sam had been practicing for days now and had finally perfected their special move, "the Fastball Special"! Using his incredible strength Sunspot lifted up Cannonball in to the air by his feet. He then hurled Cannonball at the desired tentacles, Cannonballs powers kicked in and thanks to the added momentum his speed was so great that the tentacles shattered upon impact.

The explosion was followed by many high fives and pats on the back. Everything was going great for… almost everyone.

Final Exercise

"This will be your final exercise for today. You've all done very well. You should be proud." The Professor said

All the students had smiles full of pride on their faces, all but one.

Hydro who only earlier that day seemed so enthusiastic about taking part in the Danger-Room and only a few minutes ago was paying such close attention now had his eyes pointed downward. Perhaps he was giving up; perhaps the institute wasn't the answer he was looking for.

"This is a new exercise and none of you have ever partaken in it. So be prepared."

"No problem." Iceman shrugged

"We can handle whatever you throw at us." The equally cocky Sunspot said

"Okay…" Beast said activating the sequence

The ground beneath the students began to shake violently as if Avalanche had decided to pay them a visit. This wasn't Avalanche though; Avalanche was a walk in the park compared to this. From underneath them rose a 15-foot tall robot, equipped with a heavy arsenal of anti-super power weaponry including to large cannons mounted on its arms as well as two smaller cannons at it's sides.

This creation somewhat resembled the same destructive monster they had encountered once before, only smaller and not nearly as deadly. All of the students backed away slowly.

"No problem, yeah sure." Berzerker muttered

"Ready?" Beast asked the students

"Uh…" Iceman stuttered

"Y-yeah, were ready." Sunspot said finally speaking up

The others just nodded slowly.

"Good." Beast smiled

The now activated automaton eyes lit up as it jumped to life. Wasting no time it immediately opened fire on the students with low energy laser blasts. The students separated to opposite corners of the room and surrounded the Bot. Now it was their turn to return fire. Magma, Hydro, Iceman and Berzerker hit the Bot from all sides but were having little effect. Like the tentacles this creature had a weak point somewhere, the only problem was no one knew what it was. 

One of the Bot's side cannons aimed out at Berzerker and fired a bolo that quickly wrapped around him, knocking him of balance and flat on his back. Seeing his helpless teammate Cannonball leaped out at the Robot and sped towards it like a missile. He hadn't prepared on the robot being able to bend over backwards though. The automaton easily evaded Cannonball's attack. Cannonball was unable to stop himself and slammed into the Danger-Room wall. The impact shook the entire room.

This momentarily disoriented the students long enough for the huge Robot to grasp Iceman in its clutches. With his arms being held down all Iceman could do is struggle in vain to free himself.

Magma who was getting steadily more angry decided it was time to turn up the heat. Her body became engulfed in flames, now she could really let loose. 

The robot was not concerned with her at the moment it was concerned with Hydro who was standing directly in front of the mechanical beast firing full-blast with both arms. This kind of force could punch a hole through a wall, but it was barely slowing the robot down. Even Sunspot who had jumped on the robot's back and was trying desperately to pull its head down was unable to stop it.

"Get out of the way." Iceman yelled at Hydro

Hydro didn't budge. He wasn't backing down and he wasn't running. 

**__**

ZZZZZaaaap!!!

Hydro took a blast dead center to his chest and at close range too. Hydro flew across the room and into a wall.

"Oh man." Sunspot groaned

At this time things really seemed hopeless. They were going to fail this test for sure. Berzerker was writhing on the floor still trying to get untangled, Sam was half out of it, and Hydro was completely out of it. Bobby had managed to freeze the robots fist, Magma had melted one of its feet to the floor, and Sunspot had damaged the head a bit. Still it was only a matter of time before they would be taken out too.

Hydro was still on the floor and in complete disbelief. He failed. Every single test.

He failed…

Suddenly something in him snapped. Like a switch inside of him was flipped. Maybe it was the pain, or maybe just frustration. He let loose.

Hydro used all his strength to lift himself up and on his feet. Something had taken control of him. Something powerful. Something he couldn't control.

**__**

Slpooosh!

Hydro morphed into his water form and literally exploded out of his suit and at the robot. He slowly grew and grew until he was eye to eye with the machine. The description that those who had seen this side of Hydro had given didn't give the real thing justice. His body only retained it most basic form in its watery enlarged state, but it had no definition or texture, it was just water. Arms, legs, a torso, the only thing that still resembled Hydro were his braids, which were water as well. 

Hydro reached an arm back and took a mighty swing that staggered the machine. Another blow sent the machine reeling backwards. It was at this time that the hand that still had Iceman in its grip shattered from the force of Hydro's punches. Finally free Iceman proceeded to freeze one of the Bot's legs. Now there was no escape. Reaching deep down into his own strength Roberto ripped the head of the monster which used up the last of his strength. Now the monster just needed to be finished off. Hydro used a two-handed swing that sent the robot's torso flying from its melted and frozen legs.

The exercise was over. They had passed. Needless to say everyone was a bit surprised, and a bit impressed. 

"Well done." The Prof. said, "Well done."

Bobby helped out Ray to free himself as Roberto and Sam gathered their bearings. Just as everyone was on their way out for a well deserved rest Hydro powered down. Everything stopped.

"BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"

The Danger-Room erupted in laughter at the sight of Hydro. Hydro just stared confusedly. 

"Jeez…" Logan groaned

Everyone wasn't laughing, mainly it was just the young males. (Except for Rhane) The young ladies looked a bit shocked. Beast just shook his head; Evan and Kurt were rolling on the floor and Storm just put a hand over her face in disbelief. What was so funny?

Then Hydro remembered something. He wasn't wearing his normal uniform. So when he expanded his body he completely destroyed his clothes…and he was totally naked. You couldn't tell when he was in water mode. Realizing this he did his best to cover up his bare skin, which was blushing under his dark skin.

"I… believe that's enough for today… could someone please get Hydro his uniform… please?" the Prof. said

Maybe… Hydro thought, maybe… this wasn't such a good idea.

****

Next Time: It's just and ordinary day in Bayville. The X-girls take Hydro shopping. 

The B.O.M. goes to a football game. And more fun with the new mutants.

Plus: Quality time with Magneto! Yay!!! 

**__**


	7. Holiday Distraction

Hey again peoples! Well I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! This chapter is definitely gonna be the last of the "Hydro-heavy" chapters. After this one he's gonna go on getting the same amount of "airtime" as everyone else. It's only fair.  
  
Today's Episode Brought to you by: The new Quicksilver Speedsters!  
  
You may not be a mutant with the God-given ability to outrun freeway traffic without breaking a sweat or be able to read "War and Peace" in the time it takes to microwave a burrito; but you can still dress like one with the new "Quicksilver Speedsters!" They're endorsed by the one and only speed demon himself Pietro Maximoff.  
  
Pietro: "Hey losers! Buy these and maybe some of my greatness will rub off on you!"  
  
Disclaimer: I own Hydro. I don't own anything else.*sniff* I wish I did. (breaks into tears)  
  
"Holiday Distraction"  
  
Saturday.  
  
A day of relaxation for the students of the Xavier institute. No school or training either. The Professor decided to give his students a little time off. Things had been so turbulent as of late. The world was still adjusting to the existence of mutants and the mutants were still adjusting to everyone's initial reaction. Between this, recent encounters with the Brotherhood, and the stress of schoolwork everyone was in need of a break. Now with a short vacation from school the Professor was determined to make sure the students enjoyed their time off anyway they chose.  
  
And so today much of the household was heading to the mall. The trip had been postponed once already, and now more people were going. On the trip would be the person who caused the postponement last time. Speaking of whom, Saturday may be a day for rest for some teenagers but not for one young man. While everyone else was enjoying their breakfast and planning out the day ahead of them, one student was hard at work training in the Danger-Room.  
  
His name is Hydro.  
  
He's the new guy.  
  
With the last bit of energy his body could afford him he stomped out the last of the spyder-bots that had been programmed to attack him, finishing the training sequence. He bent down and rested his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. The efforts would be worth it if he could achieve his goal. Just as he began to stand upright again the lighting changed inside the room and half of it became covered in shadows. Someone was there with him. This someone had been with him the moment he entered the Danger-Room.  
  
"Do you think this will help?" a voice from the shadows asked  
  
Hydro quickly spun around in the direction of the voice.  
  
"Do you think this will help you?" the voice said again more sternly  
  
Hydro recognized this voice a little too well.  
  
"Do you?"  
  
The stalker stepped a bit closer allowing most of it to be seen except for its face.  
  
"Do you think this can help you?" It said gesturing to the room they were in  
  
"Do you think they can help you?" the figure said referring to the others in the institute.  
  
"They won't, they can't. You can ignore it. You can deny it. You can try to do it alone, but you'll fail."  
  
The figure walked completely out of the shadows now and came face to face with Hydro. Hydro looked back at this person and saw his own face staring back at him. His exact double had been the one watching him.  
  
"Nothing can help you."  
  
He awoke. It was a dream. He wasn't startled; he just opened his eyes and slowly began to remember where he was. He wasn't in the Danger-Room; he was in his new bedroom. As the fog of sleep slowly lifted over his mind he began to remember where he was. He hadn't been training at all, although he was sweating.  
  
He now sat up in his bed, his muscles still sore from yesterday's exercises. The room was virtually empty except for a couple pieces of furniture: a small bookcase shelf over the head of the bed, a dresser, a desk and of course his bed. It was a large room with a large window that gave a perfect view of the horizon. The curtain was open allowing the sun to shine though and into Hydro's eyes, further shaking him out of his zombie-like state.  
  
He placed a hand on his head and clenched his eyes tightly. It was only a dream and yet. what was this? Hydro wiped away the beads of perspiration from his head and examined it in his hand. After a moment the beads absorbed into his hand. This wasn't sweat. It was already happening. It seems he got to the institute just in time.  
  
Springing from his bed he quickly snatched from the closet the only outfit he owned. Hydro's suit was made up a dark navy blue body suit that covered him from the neck down including his hands and the bottom of the suit had built-in boots with hard rubber soles. Over the suit were several detachable armor-like pieces. Each of these pieces was Carolina blue with a silver trim. He had shin-guards that covered the length from his wrist up to just past his mid-forearm, elbow-guards, knee-guards, a belt with a rectangular buckle, shin guards protecting the length from his ankles to just before his knee and chest protector that measured around his collar, shoulders and right below his chest.  
  
After suiting up a determined Hydro stormed out of his room and down the hall. At that moment Jubilee and Bobby were heading down the hall in the opposite direction to tell Hydro to get ready for the mall. Hydro just walked past them before they could even say anything.  
  
"Hey where are you going?" Jubilee asked grabbing him by the arm  
  
"The Danger-Room." Hydro answered flatly  
  
"Dude we're not training today, the Prof.'s giving us a day-off." Bobby said  
  
"But." Hydro started  
  
"Come on!" Jubilee giggled dragging Hydro off towards the living room  
  
"We got a full day planned bud. All work and no play." Bobby said  
  
Within the hour the X-men were at the mall and within seconds of entering had separated to go about various activities. Some went to the arcade, some to the food court, some to the music store and some to the comic book shop. Kitty, Jean, Amara and Rogue however decided to help out Hydro with his clothing selections. The five went to an expensive designer store and Hydro waited in the changing area and the girls gave him their clothes they selected for him.  
  
Jean came up with the first ensemble. For a top she chose a sky blue, collared shirt with a cream-colored sweater vest. For the bottom half she decided on a pair of khaki pants and dark brown loafers.  
  
"Wow, he looks so.spiffy!" Rogue said with sarcastic enthusiasm  
  
"He looks like the school librarian!" Kitty laughed, "My turn!"  
  
She handed him the clothes and shoved him back in the dressing room. A couple of minutes later he was back out again. Kitty started off with a white, wife-beater and a pair of very baggy jeans, She finished it off with a pair of sneakers, a beanie hat and a pair of over-sized goggles.  
  
"What's with the goggles?" Rogue asked, "Is he goin' swimmin' or somethin'.  
  
"And his pants are falling off." Jean added, "How's he supposed to walk?"  
  
"Oh like you could do better!" Kitty huffed  
  
"Gladly." Rogue said handing Hydro the clothes she picked for him. Hydro still hadn't said a word. Amara was doing everything she could to keep from laughing out loud.  
  
Hydro stepped back out again. Rogue's handpicked outfit consisted of a very tight black, sleeveless t-shirt, a pair of combat boots, patented leather pants, matching spiked cuffs, and to finish it off a studded belt with a matching studded dog collar.  
  
"Oh my."Jean covered her face to keep from laughing  
  
"Um, you do know Halloween is still months away, right?" Kitty asked  
  
"Shut up." Rogue responded  
  
Amara didn't feel much like picking out anything for Hydro, needless to say she was still coming to terms with his permanent stay at the institute. The girls left Hydro so that he could venture off on his own but not before Amara decided to remind Hydro to buy plenty of underwear, aloud. in front of a group of girls.  
  
Hydro sat at a bench surveying the clothes that his female teammates picked out for him and something about them just didn't seem right. Just then a group of boys that looked Hydro's age walked by, he studied their attire closely. Soon after Hydro visited several stores and purchased his clothes accordingly so that he could actually fit in with other average teenage boys (fashion wise at least). As Hydro began to leave one store however something caught his eye. A cap, a simple, ordinary, plain, old baseball cap. It was in the bargain bin no less, for a dollar. It had no logos and it wasn't name brand either. Just a dusty, old, generic, blue baseball cap. Hydro bought it and immediately tried it on.  
  
On his way out of the store he came across a few of his fellow x-men Evan and Kurt.  
  
"Cool cap man!" Kurt said, "But your vearing it backvards."  
  
"Yeah and you forgot to break it in." Evan added  
  
Evan removed the cap from Hydro's head and bent the bill down the middle and placed it back on Hydro's head the "correct" way with the bill in the back. It was amazing how much more at ease the other's seemed to be around Hydro now, every  
  
On the second floor of the mall another group of mutant teens just happened to be out for the day, a group known as the Bother hood waited patiently for the one female member of the illustrious band of mutant marvels. Lance was pacing a bit, remembering the ultimatum he was given earlier.  
  
"Either you take me there or I'll just have to borrow your car and take myself."  
  
Tabitha's words still rung in his head. Toad and Fred decided to ride along, they didn't want to be left alone on the off chance that Mystique would return.  
  
Toad was leaning over the banister letting the slime slowly drip out of his mouth letting get as close down on the people on the first floor as possible before slurping it back up. Lance finally saw Tabitha running through the crowds of people.  
  
"Finally!" Lance said exasperatedly  
  
"Guess what I just saw on the other side of the mall." Tabitha said a bit out of breath  
  
"Something that'll actually fit Freddy." Todd said patting Fred's gut.  
  
"Oh yeah right." Tabitha scoffed, "No there's some Anti-mutant hate group having a rally or something down there."  
  
A look of shock over took the young men. Fred and Toad turned to Lance.  
  
"Where.?" Lance sneered  
  
Within in a few minutes the B.o.M. had gone around the corner and across the second floor of the mall where they reached a large crowd that surrounded a medium-sized platform with a banner that read "Friends of Humanity". On the stage was a middle aged man with long white hair tied in a ponytail, next to him was a younger looking woman with short cut blond hair. They were both dressed red, white and blue robes and the man held a microphone in his hand.  
  
"Brothers and sisters we are in the mists of a change!" the speaker began, "We do not live in the same world anymore, and it is up to us, all of us to band together to protect ourselves who would do us harm. I'm talking about mutant, ladies and gentlemen! They may look like us they may walk like us but I assure you they are not to be trusted no matter what. If we take a stand against them now then perhaps we can put a stop to them before it's too late. Think of your children's safety, think of our county's safety, think of .  
  
"Well, well, well", Lance interrupter "What do we have here?"  
  
"Looks like a rabid bunch of mutant haters to me." Todd answered  
  
"Is that what this is?" Fred chuckled "I thought it was a bake sale."  
  
The three began to advance towards the stage, Tabitha was not too far behind with a devilish smile on her face.  
  
"Are you kids interested in joining the cause?" the main speaker asked enthusiastically  
  
"Nah, hate groups aren't really our thing." Lance answered  
  
"Yeah..." Todd leapt onto the stage "Why all the hate baby?"  
  
Todd put his arm the female speaker, "Why can't we all just love each other?" he said attempting a deep voice  
  
"Ah, get away from me you little freak!" the lady hollered pushing Todd away from her  
  
"What are ya, mutant sympathizers or somethin'?" someone from the crowd yelled  
  
"No we're mutants!" Lance said with a smile  
  
The crowd immediately backed up as if Lance announced he had a bomb strapped to his chest.  
  
"Y-you're mutants?" the speaker asked sounding terrified  
  
"Yeah that's right!" Fred said shaking fist  
  
And you're mutant haters." Tabitha smirked "So guys why don't we really give em something to hate."  
  
BOOM!  
  
The explosion echoed throughout the mall.  
  
"What was that!?" Evan said  
  
"Ten to one it's something ve'll have to have to help clean up. Kurt said "Come on!"  
  
Within a minute all the x-men had converged on the scene following the sound of explosions and the fleeing people heading in the other direction.  
  
"Aw man look who came to crash the party!" Fred said Uh, hey guys h-how's it goin?" Tabitha said trying to hide a boom-ball behind her back.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Cyclops shouted  
  
"Would you chill Summers, we're the good guys here!" Lance explained  
  
"Waitaminute." Jubilee interrupted  
  
She lifted up the nearly destroyed banner that once hung from the stage and examined it.  
  
"Friends of Humanity!?" She read aloud  
  
"What's that?" Evan asked  
  
"Only one of the largest growing anti-mutant groups in the country." Jean answered  
  
""See, we did the right thing." Toad said proudly  
  
"Yeah but not like this." Scott said  
  
"Well what were we supposed to do just sit there and do nothin' while they talked about us like we're.we're." Fred sputtered angrily  
  
Scott surveyed the damage slowly and looked down at the banner then back at the Brotherhood. Finally he let out a deep sigh.  
  
"Look.just get out of here before the cops show up."  
  
"Vell it vas bound to happen sooner or later." Kurt said placing a hand on Scott's shoulder  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
While the teens focused on the predicament at hand they were completely unaware of the fact that at that very moment they were being watched. High above them just outside the skylight that lined the ceiling of the mall was a small silver orb. Not much bigger than a softball this silvery orb hovered just above the glass. A lens protruding from the orb stayed on the scene before retreating back inside its metal casing. It then shot straight out into the air and out across the horizon.  
  
A few hours later, Many miles away.  
  
Deep into the woods, just over a ridge nestled between two hills a strange looking structure lays hidden in a bed of freshly laid snow. A large metallic dome without doors or windows creates a small hole in its exterior just large enough for the orb to enter through it. Once inside the orb twists and turns through several maze-like corridors, of the steel covered interior of the dome.  
  
The orb finally floated up to two large doors and stayed there for a second before the slowly opened. The room was vast and dimly light, on the far side sat a large throne and in this throne sat a very eager man patiently awaiting some important information. The orb floated up to the figure and into his hands. The face of the orb opened revealing a small screen that began to display the information it recorded earlier. After watching the display for only a few minutes he had seen what he needed to see and his predictions were correct. It was time to act.  
  
As this was going on in another side of the station four soldiers in and impending inter-species war waited for their commander. The doors to the control room opened slowly under a menacing low hum. Magneto stepped inside.  
  
"We have a problem." Magneto said, "We've waited long enough, Mystique has not returned and the humans are already preparing their forces, it's time we do the same. To begin we must find and reclaim our fellow soldiers."  
  
"You mean.?" Quicksilver began  
  
"Yes Pietro, it is time for you to return." Magneto answered moving closer to his son  
  
Pietro had a sour look on his face.  
  
"If you say so, but don't expect them to be ecstatic to see me or anything."  
  
"For now they will do as they're told or face the consequences."  
  
O.k., cool, but we still have a bigger, meaner problem on our hands. What'll we do if Wanda shows up?"  
  
"Let her come; if all goes according to plan she will no linger be a threat.  
  
Next Time: The B.o.M. gets a visit from an old friend and he's not expecting a warm welcome. Meanwhile Storm tries to convince Evan to spend some time with the new recruit. Also Magneto and Professor X have a little sit-down to talk about old times and the future ahead. 


End file.
